“IT WAS SOLD IN MELBOURNE IN 1951 AND WHAT IT DID FOR THE NEXT 49 YEARS REMAINS A MYSTERY”

Design Centre’s paint shop. It just needed a coat of paint and bolting back together. Simple? Not quite, but over the past 15 years the hard work had been done. Boxes of parts came with the van. The guards had already been painted black, it had an original Workshop Manual and there was even a little snippet of its history.

Chassis number J/R 4875 was built in September 1950 in the UK Morris works at Adderley Park, Birmingham. It has a stock plate #3809 from Lanes Motors, indicating it was first sold in Melbourne in 1951. What it did for the next 49 years are unknown.

In 2000 John Beaton found it in country Victoria, very much worse for wear. There were vents on the roof and a wooden partition behind the driver’s seat like many bakers vans in Australia. It had crunched something - the front was damaged, as was the chassis, and it was badly rusted. J van sills always rust, and with only six bolts holding the body to the chassis, they wobble.

John Beaton concentrated on the chassis, engine, gearbox and diff. Everything was dismantled and the repairs started. Chassis straightened, springs reset, diff and back axle refurbished as were the brakes. Interestingly, parts were not difficult to find. Automotive Surplus at Mitcham were able to supply almost all of the needed parts. Not bad for a 60-year old vehicle. The 90 cubic inch, original side-valve engine, all 1476cc was fully refurbished. Nothing was left to chance. The end result was possibly better than when new and it ran unleaded fuel. Once he had a complete refurbished rolling chassis he prepared to take on the next phase of the body work. A big job was ahead.

It was at this stage J/R 4875 went to Queensland as rescuer # 1 had found a restored JB van and passed the project on to another brave enthusiast, Michael Freeman.

As rescuer #2, Michael Freeman had owned Js in his youth and wanted to relive that ’70s dream of driving the J van to the surf.

ABOVE Decades ago you’d have seen thousands of these on our roads. A- The Austin A90 Atlantic rectangular side lights are unique to early J vans. B- Early Morris Js had MorrisCommercial badging, but was changed to Morris with the introduction of the OHV engined JB in 1958. C- The Lorna May, named after Justin’s mother. D- The practical J is still making local deliveries. E- Plenty of cargo space in the J.